Senator Bernie
Sanders (I-VT), a member of the Senate energy committee, issued the following
statement today after the Senate blocked a bill to rescind $2 billion in annual
taxpayer handouts to the five biggest U.S. oil companies:

“I voted to end oil
company subsidies because we have a $14 trillion national debt, because some of
the most profitable corporations in the history of the world don’t need tax
breaks, because some oil companies pay no federal income taxes, and because we
desperately need to end our dependence on fossil fuels.

“Congress cannot
balance the budget on the backs of middle-class working families without asking
the wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations for shared
sacrifice.”

Sanders last year
called for the repeal of $35 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks over
the next decade. His proposal would have devoted $25 billion to deficit
reduction and put $10 billion over 10 years into an Energy Efficiency
Conservation Block Grant Program. The vote last June 15 on Sanders'
amendment was 35 to 61. At that time, 22 Democrats bucked the wishes of the
White House and voted against the repeal.